Mars Food launches PurAsia spices range

PurAsia, a new brand in Asian cuisine, has been developed to inject excitement in to the £594.5m wet cooking sauce category and consists of a set of three blends of spices, herbs and pastes, perfectly assorted to help cooks recreate their favourite restaurant Asian meals at home in under thirty minutes.

The product comes in six mouth-watering varieties inspired by the authentic cuisine from India, Thailand and China.

PurAsia is also set to appeal to an emerging group of people called ‘Gastrosexuals’, who see cooking as an enjoyable and rewarding process.

Mars commissioned Future Foundation to investigate the motivations, lifestyle choices and cooking habits of consumers and found that Gastrosexuals tend to be upwardly mobile men, aged 25-44 who love cooking for family, friends and partners but also for the pleasure and satisfaction the cooking process brings to them.

The ‘Emergence of the Gastrosexual’ report indicated that while single men tend to create a meal for the potential seduction, men in relationships were likely to veer towards cooking as their contribution to the housework. The report found that men actually consider cooking to be a hobby rather than a chore and the more time they spent cooking the more they enjoy it.

The Future Foundation noted: “Cooking for this new generation of men isn’t simply a matter of refuelling; it’s an enjoyable experience, helps to form part of their identity and is something to be proud of. Indeed, women who cook for the same motivations and pleasures as men also have a place in the Gastrosexual phenomenon.”

The research revealed that an increase in travel and an ever growing choice of restaurants has led to a diverse range of influences on the modern male cook. British food remains ever popular, but the report found that foreign cuisines, especially Asian, are very appealing to the Gastrosexual.

Although dining in Asian restaurants continues to grow, people rarely attempt replicating these dishes at home because they find them too complicated to cook and there are far too many ingredients involved. In fact, half of even the most dedicated scratch-cooks still eat at fast food restaurants, 20% do this monthly or more often.

Paul Aikens, Marketing Director for Mars Food, comments: “Today’s men are no longer content with what they can find at the back of the kitchen cupboard, they’re looking for something much more satisfying in terms of taste, participation and effort.

“With meal preparation time averaging at 41 minutes and a desire to produce restaurant quality Asian meals at home, our product will help achieve this in under 30 minutes. The blend of spices, herbs and pastes provides the essential ingredients to prepare the meal in three easy steps. Because the meal involves a level of consumer participation there is a greater sense of fulfilment and engagement for the cook.”

The PurAsia range uses only the finest, quality ingredients and consists of six variants: Royal Korma, Tikka Masala, Thai Green Curry, Thai Red Curry, Szechuan and Black Bean. It will be priced at £3.29 and available exclusively from Tesco for the first nine months.

The launch will be supported by a £1 million marketing and in-store campaign from July onwards which will include: advertising on Tesco.com, the clubcard statements, food club magazine and on in-store TV screens.

Alongside this, a high profile PR campaign fronted by Celebrity MasterChef winner and England Rugby star, Matt Dawson and his partner, will commence in mid July and a dedicated website www.gastrosexual.com will be launched to provide consumers with further information.

A national print and online advertising campaign will take place in September.